The latest edition to my baseball library is an interesting read called Walkoffs, Last Licks and Final Outs. It’s an interesting tome that has game descriptions and box scores of some of the more interesting finishes in baseball. You’ve got a lot of what you’d expect, like Game Six of the 1975 World Series and Game Seven of the 1960 World Series but there’s also a lot of more interesting and lesser known finishes. Game seven of the 1926 World Series is in here, in which Babe Ruth was caught stealing to finish the whole series as well as several final outs at several ballparks like Ebbets Field and Tiger Stadium.
There’s a lot in here and it’s organized very well. Want to just check out the ballparks section? That’s no sweat as is the final at bat of several high profile players. Authors Bill Chuck and Jim Kaplan did a very nice job with this book.
We have a new number one, with Living on the Black taking the top spot from the 33 Year Old Rookie. There’s also two new books to the top ten so lets take a look at the list.
Mike Lowell’s book, Deep Drive, made a nice debut at number five while The Soul of Baseball, which is about Buck O’Neill, showed up at number seven. Just a quick note, I’m sure The Soul of Baseball was in the top ten on Amazon.com at some point, but since I started this site, this is the first time it’s popped into the top ten. Not sure why, because there’s no clearance sale so it must have gotten a mention somewhere. Red Sox Rule, which is about Terry Francona, popped back on the list at number ten.
Also, for the first time since I started doing this, Baseball Prospectus has slipped from the list. That’s at least two months in the top ten with most of those weeks at number one.
Living on the Black made a nice jump from 10 to 4 and give some props to Baseball Prospectus. They’re about ready to fall off the list, but they’ve been on here for a nice long time. Very good staying power for an annual. Just missing is Watching Baseball Smarter, which would have been a debut. Maybe next week.
I got a couple of new books I’m hoping to touch on later in the week. Also hoping to finish an actual review, but I’ve been threatening that for a while.
Self publishing seems to be the big thing these days, but after working with a publisher (Maple Street Press) on Tigers Corner 2008, there’s some things they can accomplish that a place like Lulu.com can’t. Sure, Lulu takes care of a lot of things like the ink and the print but I’ve never seen a product that was as high quality to Tigers Corner that was self published.
First off, the printing of the book is superb. The book is printed on glossy photo paper with high quality laser ink. And the quality of the pages looks like something you would see from a high end digital photo printer. I own an HP photosmart and while I thought those pictures looked sharp, it was nothing compared to the photo quality you’ll find in Tigers Corner.
Of course working with a publisher means you have to play by their rules, but there’s always a common goal. Of course the biggest goal is just getting that book to the printer.
I took a couple of weeks off on this and ironically, without a lot of new entrants into the mix, the list is most of the same books from three weeks ago, albeit in a different order. We have a new number one which is interesting but here’s the list:
The two books that are new to the list are Cubs Forever, whcih is obviously about the Cubs and it’s a collection of interviews which includes the likes of Ernie Banks and Ryne Sandberg. Living on the Black is a book about Mike Mussina and Tom Glavine in their 2007. Living on the Black already has a one star review which isn’t good but the story seems interesting.
I’m behind. Way behind. I have a couple of books in the hopper and a couple I need to just look at quickly and give a brief synopsis to give them credit. It’s the downside of a day job taking away your valuable time from the important things you need to get done.
. It’s an interesting tome that has game descriptions and box scores of some of the more interesting finishes in baseball. You’ve got a lot of what you’d expect, like Game Six of the 1975 World Series and Game Seven of the 1960 World Series but there’s also a lot of more interesting and lesser known finishes. Game seven of the 1926 World Series is in here, in which Babe Ruth was caught stealing to finish the whole series as well as several final outs at several ballparks like Ebbets Field and Tiger Stadium.